So I just bought a beat up American tactical GSG 1911 chambered in .22LR from a buddy for 50$. From the looks of it, he didn't clean or lubricate it much and beat the hell of out the frame trying to break it down. It is also in need of a few parts that seem to have broken, going to just order the complete parts kit for 20$ off the American Tactical website. Anyways - figured I would document my progress on getting it fixed up, working and re-finished.

The plan is to file down the gouges in the frame and round-out the dents in the front of the slide, then have the frame and slide bead blasted and cerakoted in OD green, then replace all the furniture (hammer, trigger, slide release, thumb safety) with parts from Wilson Combat in black (the ones on there currently are pretty beat up and corroded). Then new sights since the sights on there are beat up and tweaked, and add VZ grips. Needed a project to work on, so hopefully this turns out decent. Not sure how much I will end up spending fixing it up, need to price everything out.

Here are pics of it as is - I will probably work on completely disassembling it this weekend and then work on fixing the dents and gouges - was told JB Weld would make a good filler if the gouges are deep, but I may be able to do without it.

__________________"It does not take a majority to prevail... but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men." - Samuel Adams

Sorry for the double post but figured I could ask here rather than making a new thread: for removing the finish on this pistol, while I may still bead blast it, I was curious if there are alternative methods that may be cheaper? I really don't want to mail it in to a company and bead blasting equipment can get expensive - I would invest in it if I knew for a fact I would need to use it again in the future but I have no idea if I will or not. Any ideas?

__________________"It does not take a majority to prevail... but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men." - Samuel Adams

Definitely sacreligious haha I couldn't believe how beat up it was when I got it. So far I have been able to use an extremely fine grit sandpaper to buff out the gouges and scratches by hand without taking hardly any of the frame down, I will have to post pics once I get the damn thing disassembled. There are quite a few broken parts that make the disassembly process pretty frustrating - not to mention work has been taking up most of my time and leaving me with little free time to work on it. I have 2 of the .22 mags, but they do not fit in a regular 1911 if thats what you were looking to use them for (in conjunction with a conversion kit) for some reason they only fit in this pistol - though they are identical in size to my .45 1911 mags. Should have pics up Sunday.

Whether the project works out or not all depends on the slide. That bent part in the picture where the slide catch/release is will be the deciding factor. If that can't be bent back and fixed, and I end up needing a new slide, this project will be put on the back burner. Not looking to spend as much or more than the cost of a new pistol fixing this one up. Really just wanted a project, and knew if I didn't buy it, it would end up in the garbage.

__________________"It does not take a majority to prevail... but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men." - Samuel Adams

III-Percent
Definitely sacreligious haha I couldn't believe how beat up it was when I got it. So far I have been able to use an extremely fine grit sandpaper to buff out the gouges and scratches by hand without taking hardly any of the frame down, I will have to post pics once I get the damn thing disassembled. There are quite a few broken parts that make the disassembly process pretty frustrating - not to mention work has been taking up most of my time and leaving me with little free time to work on it. I have 2 of the .22 mags, but they do not fit in a regular 1911 if thats what you were looking to use them for (in conjunction with a conversion kit) for some reason they only fit in this pistol - though they are identical in size to my .45 1911 mags. Should have pics up Sunday.

Whether the project works out or not all depends on the slide. That bent part in the picture where the slide catch/release is will be the deciding factor. If that can't be bent back and fixed, and I end up needing a new slide, this project will be put on the back burner. Not looking to spend as much or more than the cost of a new pistol fixing this one up. Really just wanted a project, and knew if I didn't buy it, it would end up in the garbage.
__________________
"It does not take a majority to prevail... but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men." - Samuel Adams

You are to be commended for attempting to 'save one of our own' .

I own one of these and it's a great 1911 trainer/shooter and if "treated" properly should serve one quite well for a long time.

I indeed look forward to your updates.

Here's mine and as we can see, one can maintain the appearance of a gun (.22lr are much easier IMO) even after K's downrange (granted I do not holster this gun ever as it's just a range gun). Now, my CCW is another story as it has lots of holster wear on it but it doesn't concern me in the least as it's a "tool". Contrast that with my Colt Walker 1847 which I maintain in pristine condition and it's far from a "Safe-Queen."

BTW, I don't think it has been mentioned in this particular thread (many probably already know) but this is the EXACT same gun as the Sig-Sauer 1911-22 which in some ways negates the concern some have expressed concerning the slides Zamak makeup--in my view it's not a significant factor for a .22lr gun.

__________________NRA Life Member
“A free people ought...to be armed..."
―George Washington

Haha thats good to know - does this mean that I can only use Sig parts to replace the Hammer, Trigger, etc. since Sig 1911's aren't milspec?

Really hope I can get it all fixed up. Will be finishing the disassembly this evening, then going to look for a local company that can bead blast it. After that its just about buying new parts and getting the frame and receiver finished with cerakote.

By the way - yours is definitely a good example of how the pistol SHOULD look when you take care of it haha - assuming you probably didn't use needle nose pliers and a screwdriver to try and take it apart

__________________"It does not take a majority to prevail... but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men." - Samuel Adams

Alright finally got the entire thing stripped, cleaned and the parts filed that needed to be. Can post pics but there's nothing to really see, just bare metal where it was sanded down. I will hopefully get it media blasted sometime this week and will post pics after its all cleaned up. I am going to basically need to replace all internal parts as they showed a lot of signs of either rust or gummed up with what looks like calcium deposits but it could just be corrosion. The springs were shot as well.

__________________"It does not take a majority to prevail... but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men." - Samuel Adams

Having just taken mine apart for a good cleaning, I can tell you that they are not the easiest guns to take apart and re-assemble. Not only that but the instruction manual is awful - like a non-English speaker used Google for translation or something. Most of the time I just clean the ejection area with a Q-tip and take a couple of swipes down the barrel with a bore snake. Still, not a bad gun for the money and I really like the threaded barrel.

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